---
title: "Strategy"
description: "A strategy is a saved set of instruments plus the rules for weighting them and changing positions — the unit you backtest, keep, and follow over time."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/strategy"
last_updated: "2026-10-03"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/glossary/strategy.md"
---

# Strategy

A strategy is a saved set of instruments together with the rules for how capital is weighted across them and when positions change — the unit you [backtest](/glossary/backtest), keep in your library, and follow over time. It holds instruments directly, and it is the building block of a [Combined](/glossary/combined), which holds strategies instead.

**Also seen as:** trading strategy, investment strategy

Earlier versions of Fincanva called this object a *model* or a *component*. Both names are retired — the app says strategy everywhere now.

## How does Fincanva handle it?

- A strategy needs at least one [instrument](/glossary/instrument) before it can be saved or run, and a strategy that selects instruments through a screener needs at least one screener attached; [Create a strategy](/docs/strategies/create-a-strategy-and-choose-its-instruments) quotes the exact gate messages, and the editor's other setup checks are listed under [strategy alerts](/glossary/strategy-alerts). There is no fixed upper limit on the number of instruments a strategy can hold today.
- Strategies are listed under **Strategies**, split into **Single** and **Combined** — a Combined is a strategy too, just one whose members are strategies.
- Four strategy types shape what you fill in when you create one; they change which steps you see, not what the backtest computes. See [Strategy type](/glossary/strategy-type).
- A strategy can be followed live with [Mark Live](/glossary/mark-live), which lists it as a [portfolio](/glossary/portfolio) on the Portfolios page. Nothing is traded and no order is placed.
- Editing a saved strategy leaves its last result in place until you run it again; the [run status](/glossary/run-status) chip reads **Needs re-run** until then.

## What does a strategy contain?

A strategy contains the instruments it trades plus the settings that decide how they are weighted and when they change. Each controls a different part:

- **Asset selection** — the instruments the strategy trades, chosen as a basket you pick by hand or by attaching a [screener](/glossary/screener) that selects them for you.
- **Allocation** — how capital is split across those instruments.
- **Rebalance every** — how often the weights are reset; see [rebalance](/glossary/rebalance).
- **Risk** (optional) — conditions that switch the strategy to its Risk-Off allocation when they trigger.
- **Position exits** (optional) — conditions that close a position.

Together these settings define exactly what the strategy would have done over any historical period.

## How is a strategy different from a Combined?

A strategy holds instruments; a Combined holds strategies and splits capital across them. Use a single strategy for one coherent idea, and a Combined to blend several strategies into one book. The pieces inside a Combined are themselves strategies — deliberately the same object you build on its own — so "strategy" covers both a standalone strategy and a [strategy in a Combined](/glossary/strategy-in-a-combined). Where the whole and its pieces appear together the whole is always called the Combined, never a generic "strategy", and destructive actions name their level: "Remove this strategy from the Combined" versus "Delete Combined".

## Why build a strategy instead of picking instruments by hand?

A strategy is reusable, testable, and modular, which a one-off hand-picked list of instruments is not. Because it is saved as a defined set of rules, you can backtest it over history to see how those same rules would have behaved, re-run it as new data arrives, and reuse it later without rebuilding it — on its own or as a building block of a Combined. To start one, follow [Create a strategy](/docs/strategies/create-a-strategy-and-choose-its-instruments); to pick the shape that fits your idea, see [Strategy type](/glossary/strategy-type).

## What does it look like in practice?

You start from an idea: hold the strongest recent performers among S&P 500 stocks and refresh the list every month. As a strategy that becomes one saved object — a [universe](/glossary/universe) of S&P 500 stocks, an attached screener that ranks them on recent [price change](/glossary/percent-change), **Ranking-based** allocation so the highest-ranked receive the most capital, and **Rebalance every** set to 1 month. You run it, read the [equity curve](/glossary/equity-curve) and metrics such as [CAGR](/glossary/cagr), then change the rebalance to 3 months and run again. Both runs describe the same strategy — one object, two settings — which is exactly why it is worth saving as one.

Fincanva is for education and illustration only. It is not personalised financial advice, and past or simulated results do not predict future ones. [Read the Terms Addendum](https://fincanva.com/terms/addendum#section-3)